March for Life 2016: Pro-Life and Pro-Woman go hand-in-hand

The March for Life is an annual gathering of Pro-Life advocates from all over the country to commemorate the somber anniversary of the tragic Supreme Court case that legalized abortion on-demand in 1973. Pro-Lifers come together to march, engage in dialogue, rally one another, and gain strength in solidarity to weather another year on the road to the ultimate reversal of Roe v. Wade. 2016 marks the 43rd annual March for Life.

Each year, organizers of the March for Life choose a theme that addresses the issues most pressing to our movement. This year, thanks to courageous citizen journalism from the Center for Medical Progress, we have come head-to-head with the Planned Parenthood abortion behemoth in an unprecedented way. Planned Parenthood’s narrative is anti-woman, insisting that abortion is healthcare, and that women “need” a fundamentally anti-Life approach to medicine. So this year’s March for Life theme, “Pro-Life and Pro-Woman go hand-in-hand,” could not be any more apropos.

In an announcement of next year’s theme on Capitol Hill yesterday, March for Life president Jeanne Mancini said:

Why this theme? Why now? It has been said politically and culturally that if we want to be pro-woman, one must be pro-choice. We’re here to tell you that nothing could be further from the truth. Sadly there are so many confusing messages regarding women and the issue of abortion, and they’re compounded by the false war on women rhetoric. Telling a woman that abortion is her only option should be an offense to women everywhere.

Not only is woman's natural capacity for motherhood a beautiful and inherent quality to who she is as a person, but women have the strength, the courage, and the perseverance to overcome and embrace the giftedness of the situation… Choosing Life is what is truly empowering for women. A woman’s capacity for motherhood is a gift, not a liability. And this is true whether or not she ever becomes a physical mother. This is about her whole person. Life empowers women. Capacity for Life empowers women.

Mancini underscored Planned Parenthood’s overt lack of concern for real women’s healthcare, noting that the organization offers very few actual health services to women, and, she says, lies to women “about their number one product: abortion.”

The March for Life will focus on sharing this message throughout the year of 2016. Follow @March_for_Life on Twitter and visit the March for Life website to learn more, and to find information that you can share on your own social media pages.